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James Pattison, The Morality of Private War: The Challenge of Private Military and Security Companies [PMSCs] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)

Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014)

1. George Snedeker
Richard Schmitt’s article, “Socialist Democracy and Solidarity,” poses some interesting questions concerning participatory democracy and what he calls “reason-giving.” A theory of solidarity plays a central role in his argument about democracy. The problem as I see it is that Schmitt does not develop a theoretical conception of solidarity. What exactly does he mean by solidarity, and how is it to be achieved?

Ariel: You ever heard of the Masada? For two years, 900 Jews held their own against 15,000 Roman soldiers. They chose death before enslavement. The Romans? Where are they now? Tony Soprano: You're looking at them, asshole. -- “Denial, Anger, Acceptance,” The Sopranos, Episode 3 (1999)

Democracy movements arose in most regions of the globe during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Students of social change have studied many of these movements, but, remarkably, have so far failed to look at that of the United States.

The defendants’ actions undercut the fundamental purpose of the United States’ program in Russia – the creation of trust and confidence in the emerging Russian financial markets and the promotion of openness, transparency, the rule of law, and fair play in the development of the Russian economy and laws. Justice Department initial complaint in US v. Harvard, Shleifer, Hay, et al., September 26, 2000¹

One of the most important features of Gramsci’s social theory was his analysis of the distinction between war of maneuver and war of position. In the context of a relatively underdeveloped civil society such as found in the ‘East,’ he argued, revolutionary strategy required a direct frontal assault – a war of maneuver – against the principal form of bourgeois political power: the state. In the ‘West,’ however, with its more fully developed civil society, such a direct, lightning frontal assault against the state would likely fail.

For a long time now, socialists have insisted that their system must be democratic. That has always meant that everyone should participate in decisions affecting them.

1. Introduction

Over the decades, much has been written and revealed about the continuity of economic and political elites in the transition from German fascism to post-war West Germany. This understanding pertains mostly, however, to the spheres of politics, the judicial system, secret services, the military, and higher education. With regard to cinema, by contrast, such continuity has gone largely unnoticed.

Post-Fascist Culture and Post-War Film Industry Regulations